34 Celebrity Couples Who Found Love After Being Set Up by Friends

Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher

The GRAMMY-winning country singer met her NHL player husband after they were set up on a blind date by friends...despite the fact they lived in different countries at the time.

"I mean, can I make dating more difficult?" Underwood said on VH1's Behind the Music. "Let's get a hockey guy who lives in another country. Awesome."

It worked out, and the couple married in 2010 and have two children together.

Amy Schumer and Chris Fischer

The comedian met Fischer through her assistant, Molly, who is actually Fischer's sister, so she's basically employee of the year.

Fischer is an award-winning chef who has served food for none other than the Obamas and Jake Gyllenhaal. On one vacation to Martha's Vineyard, Molly suggested that her brother should pop on by Schumer's vacation house to cook for her, and the rest is history.

Jon Stewart and Tracey McShane

The former host of The Daily Show and his wife were set up by a production assistant on Stewart's film Wishful Thinking.

When Stewart decided to propose, he called on New York Times crossword puzzle editor, Will Shortz, to help him create a crossword puzzle that would feature clues that would lead towards the marriage proposal. Awwww.

They've been married since 2000 and have two children together.

Tamera Mowry-Housley and Adam Housley

The Sister, Sister actress met her husband through their economics professor, Robert Sexton, at Pepperdine University. Housley noticed Mowry on the photo wall of Sexton's favorite students near his desk.

"Tia was on the wall too, my twin, but he pointed to my picture," Mowry said to Yahoo!.

At the time, she was focused on her career and told the professor to give Housley her email. She wasn't interested in a relationship and thought it would be easier to let the potential suitor down virtually. Her mind soon changed, though, when she received Housley's email.

"I always say, 'He got me with his words,'" Mowry has said. They married in 2011 and have two children together.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas

We actually can't believe it either, but this couple was introduced by Danny DeVito in 1998.

Douglas recalls the night he met his future wife: "I found out that [we share the same birthday] the first night I met her and after she told me that and after she told me she loved golf, I told her, 'I'm going to be the father of your children' and then she said 'Goodnight.'"

Obviously, it worked out because the couple has been together for more than 20 years and have two children.

Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos

The comedian met the former White House Communications Director after a friend suggested she go out to lunch with him.

Wentworth described the set-up on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2017 like this: "I had a birthday party, all girls, and everyone said, 'You know, you have to start dating, Ali.' And I said, 'You know what, I live in L.A., it's either agents or actors. I'm not interested.' And one of them said, 'You should go out with my old boyfriend, George Stephanopoulos.' And I said, 'No thank you.'"

Eventually, Wentworth agreed to the meet-up but not without a fight. She showed up to the lunch without showering, legs unshaved (power to you!), and in a black suit.

"I came in. We sat down; we both ordered the crab salad. And, I'm telling you, by the end of lunch, [it was] done. We were engaged two months later. Married six months later," she said on the talk show.

Katie Couric and John Molner

In 2012, Couric was single and was looking to date again, so she asked a friend to set her up.

"I asked a friend of mine, Molly, whose husband is a trauma surgeon if her husband knew any other doctors because I thought I'd like to go out with a doctor," she told PEOPLE. "And so she thought about it, and she said, 'We don't really know a doctor, but we do know this banker named John Molner.' And I said, 'Does he have a pulse?'"

Molner took a while to call, but when he did, they met at a restaurant. Couric says of their first meeting, "He had me at hello." The pair married June 2014 at her private home in the Hamptons.

Kelly Clarkson and Brandon Blackstock

The Voice judge and American Idol winner met her husband since 2013 through her manager, who is Blackstock's father.

She'd known him for several years before they got together. It wasn't until Clarkson's performance at the 2012 Super Bowl when she found out he was no longer married that things became romantic.

"Brandon is my manager's son. I've known him for six years, but he was married for most of that time," she said to the Daily Mail. "Then, suddenly, there he was at the Super Bowl, and he was single."

Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel

J & J had a mutual friend that made the intro which led to their love. The pair met in 2007, both fresh out of other relationships (Biel with Chris Evans and Timberlake with Cameron Diaz) and not looking for anything serious.

"There was nothing starry about the way we got together," shared Timberlake. "It was very un-Hollywood-esque, in fact. We met and got talking. Afterwards I asked my friend if I could call her and ask her out. My friend called Jessica and Jessica said yes, and so I called her. I did it the old fashioned way—by telephone."

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Harry and Meghan were set up by a mutual friend (most likely Violet von Westenholz, a childhood friend of Harry's who works in PR for Ralph Lauren).

"It was definitely a set-up. It was a blind date," Markle has said of their first date. "I didn't know much about him and so the only thing I had asked her when she said she wanted to set us up was...I had one question...I said 'Is he nice?'"

Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris

Ellie Goulding admitted to setting the singer and DJ up. The pair dated for more than a year before splitting in 2016.

"I did play matchmaker. That's true," Goulding told The Sun. "Calvin is a really great mate and he's so fantastic, and Taylor is such a cool person who I love. I thought, They're both really awesome and both really tall, they'll be brilliant together!"

Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal

This infamously short-lived relationship can be traced back to Gwyneth Paltrow. The Oscar-winner introduced Gyllenhaal and Swift at a dinner party at her London home. The speck of a relationship is rumored to have been the inspiration for two of Swift's songs: “All Too Well” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”

Emily Blunt and John Krasinski

The actors were introduced by Blunt's Devil Wears Prada costar, Anne Hathaway. For Krasinski, it was love at first sight.

"It was one of those things where I wasn’t really looking for a relationship and I was thinking I’m going to take my time in L.A. Then I met her and I was so nervous. I was like, Oh god, I think I’m going to fall in love with her. As I shook her hand I went, 'I like you.'"

Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt Tucci

Emily Blunt later played Cupid herself, introducing her sister Felicity to her The Devil Wears Prada costar Stanley Tucci. Sparks flew between the pair at Blunt and Krasinski's wedding, and they tied their own knot in 2012.

Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault

The pair were set up back in 2006 and the blind date could not have started off worse.

“I didn’t know it was a date," the actress told Latina. "I thought I was going to an event, and then there was one person at it. I was set up by friends to think I was going to an event, because they knew I wouldn’t go on a date! I was angry. And he didn’t know, because he thought I knew he was coming just to meet me. I started out really badly, but, as you can see, it ended happy.”

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux

The details here are a little murky but the actors definitely met in 2007 somehow through the film Tropic Thunder, which Theroux co-write, either via mutual friends Robert Downey Jr. or Ben Stiller, though they didn't start dating then. Aniston and Theroux reconnected in 2010 and had a long love affair before calling it quits in early 2018 after two years of marriage.

"He and Jen fell in a real, legit fashion," Downey told Details. "And he was willing from the jump to make sacrifices."

Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt

Everyone is desperate to set Aniston up, it seems. In 1998, her and Pitt's agents set them up on a blind date that led to a seven-year relationship.

Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady

The model and quarterback met through a mutual friend who decided to play matchmaker.

"This friend told me he knew a girl version of me," the NFL player told Details back in 2009.

The sparks that flew were mutual. "I knew Tom was the one straightaway. I could see it in his eyes that he was a man with integrity who believes in the same things I do," Bündchen told Vogue.

FKA Twigs and Robert Pattinson

This couple's two-year relationship was initiated via a special introduction by Sienna Miller and her then-beau Tom Sturridge. The three actors attended an FKA Twigs concert together, and Sturridge made sure to get Pattinson backstage access to meet the singer.

Scott Disick and Kourtney Kardashian

Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick have dated off and on for years and have three children together. None of that would have happened if it weren't for Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis, who told InTouch that he's responsible for the couple meeting.

"I introduced Kourtney and Scott at my house in Mexico," he said. "Scott came as the guest of a friend of mine, and they met in my master bedroom." Well then.

Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman

The couple were introduced by a mutual friend at the Palm Springs Film Festival in 2008. The two have been married since 2012 and have a son together, so I guess you could say things worked out nicely. Though Hathaway has said she only married Shulman because she "couldn't get Emily [Blunt]."

Courteney Cox and Johnny McDaid

These two were set up by Grammy-winning artist Ed Sheeran of all people. "My housemate [Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid] who I've lived with for a year, I introduced him to Courteney Cox. They started dating and [are] crazy about each other," Sheeran told Yahoo.

The pair got engaged in 2014. Despite splitting briefly, they are back on and it's rumored Jennifer Aniston will be maid of honor at the wedding. We love a happy ending!

Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz

Nicole Richie is behind this pairing. The reality star, who is married to Madden's brother, Joel, took credit for the couple during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live.

"I approve of anything that's going to make Benji happy," she said. "I'm going to take responsibility for everything!"

Josh Groban and Kat Dennings

The couple were set up by Dennings' Two Broke Girls costar Beth Behrs, who had been friends with Groban for years.

"I always wanted to find him the right girl. At the time, Kat was in a relationship, so I couldn't. Then they happened to both be single for once at the same time," Behrs told People. Timing really is everything. Unfortunately, things fell apart, and they called it quits in July 2016.

Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara

Vergara's Modern Family costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson introduced the couple at a party, and later gave Manganiello Vergara's phone number to help move things along. The genetically-blessed couple has been married since 2015.

Khloé Kardashian and Tristan Thompson

The reality star and basketball player have a very pushy friend to thank for their relationship (and adorable daughter, True).

"I was put on a blind date with Tristan and that's how [we met]," Khloé explained during the Keeping Up With the Kardashians 10th anniversary special. "Brandon Jennings, who is a basketball player and a friend of mine and Malika [Haqq]'s, was like, 'You're such a good girl, I want to introduce you to someone.' I was at the Bel-Air hotel, and [Tristan] came to the dinner. I didn't want to go on a blind date, so Brandon kind of ambushed the blind date. We just connected."

Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky

The beautiful Aussies met through their dialect coach, who knew they would hit it off. She was right—the couple married in 2010.

"It was like a blind date," Pataky explained during an appearance on El Hormiguero. "We had never seen each other before. It was our dialect coach, the person who helped us both with the accent. So, this lady started to talk to each other about each other. Finally, she insisted so much that I thought, Okay, let's meet."

Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff

Jack Antonoff's sister, Rachel, and comedian Mike Birbiglia set the couple up.

"It was a blind date by modern standards. I mean, I used the internet," Antonoff explained to Vulture. "[On the date] I told Lena everything about my whole life, because when you really like someone, you want them to know everything about you." The pair split in early 2018 after five years together.

Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber

The supermodel has her agent, Michael Gruber, to thank for connecting her with her husband, Rande Gerber. When Gruber was getting married, he suggested that Crawford and Gerber be each other's dates to his big day.

"We decided to meet the night before and get to know each other," Gerber told People. "I was surprised at how cool and down-to-earth she was."

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds

Okay, so these two didn't meet because of friends—they originally met on the set of Green Lantern—but they did fall in love because of friends. Blake and Ryan were so meant to be they realized they had to be together while on a double date...with other people.

"That was like the most awkward date for the respective parties because we were just like fireworks coming across [the table]," Reynolds shared with Entertainment Weekly.

Sorry, not sorry.

Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner

Sansa Stark may not have been so lucky in love, but Turner's real life love story came about when she asked Hailee Steinfield for the 411 on Jonas after the two singers collaborated on the DNCE hit "Rock Bottom." Steinfield slid Turner the digits, and well...the rest is history!

Megan Trainor and Daryl Sabara

Trainor credits the good taste of her friend Chloë Grace Moretz for helping her find love with actor Daryl Sabara.

"[Chloë] is a friend of mine, and day one of meeting her, I was like, ‘You know anybody that I could date?'" she said on Chelsea Handler's Netflix series. "And she’s like, ‘I know the nicest guy in the world, Daryl, and you should meet him!'"

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton

Morgan's close friend and Supernatural star Jensen Ackles is to thank for this pair; Ackles and his wife arranged a casual blind double date with Burton in 2009. A few tequila shots later, it was love. The couple is now married with children.

Lauren Conrad and William Tell

The pair actually met for the first time when Conrad was in high school; Tell was a singer and guitarist for the band Something Corporate, and LC was a fangirl attending the group's concert.

Fast forward to 2014, when the couple caught a vibe on their Valentine's Day blind date. "I met my husband when I was 16 and sitting onstage at one of his concerts. Ten years later we were set up on a blind date," she wrote on her blog. Conrad and Tell are now happily married with one child (and another on the way).

•••

For more stories like this, including celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, and fascinating features, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

SUBSCRIBE HERE